Russian lawmaker warns WTO may become hostage to US projects with EU, Asia-Pacific

April 14, 2015, 11:19 UTC+3MOSCOWTwo major draft agreements - with the EU on the Transatlantic trade and investment partnership and on trans-Pacific partnership with 12 countries in the region are currently heavily promoted

MOSCOW, April 14. /TASS/. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) could become a hostage to the American projects of trade partnership with the European Union and the Asia-Pacific region, speaker of the State Duma lower house of Russia’s parliament Sergey Naryshkin said on Tuesday.

"As a result of the opening of two new zones, WTO may become hostage to privately developed rules of trade and investment," Naryshkin said in an article published on the website of the Vedomosti newspaper. "This may lead to a deep crisis, including in the political relations between countries and continents, on which standards of economic relations that nobody discussed with them are imposed as a new model," said the politician.

Naryshkin said that in addition to the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Area) agreement (between the United States, Mexico and Canada) that has been in effect for two decades, two more major draft agreements - with the EU on the Transatlantic trade and investment partnership and on trans-Pacific partnership with 12 countries in the region are currently heavily promoted. According to Naryshkin, the projects have been subjected to criticism not only in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, but also in the United States: "In the first case it’s the reasonable apprehension for the fate of whole segments of national economies, which will be subdued by the more powerful US economic sectors. In the second case the objections - in the US Congress, for instance, are more of a political nature."